Past research of dyslexia has established high heritability rates but not much promising genetic markers have been made evident.
According to a study in Nature Genetics, a team of researchers have uncovered 42 genome-wide significant loci associated with dyslexia.
The research began by the performing of a genome-wide association study of 51,800 adults with dyslexia and more than 1 million controls.
“Here we performed a genome-wide association study of 51,800 adults self-reporting a dyslexia diagnosis and 1,087,070 controls and identified 42 independent genome-wide significant loci: 15 in genes linked to cognitive ability/educational attainment, and 27 new and potentially more specific to dyslexia,” the study’s authors explained in their journal report.
“Our findings show that common genetic differences have very similar effects in boys and girls, and that there is a genetic link between dyslexia and ambidexterity,” the study’s lead researcher stated in a news release.
“Our results also suggest that dyslexia is very closely genetically related to performance on reading and spelling tests reinforcing the importance of standardized testing in identifying dyslexia.”
